City Life Starter

By Heather Mattingly

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16)

Webster’s definition of racism is “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.” This is indeed a current, relevant issue today.

I grew up in a monotonous neighborhood, church, and schools, and didn’t have interaction with other cultures and races until high school and college. But I remember, starting in high school, being thoroughly fascinated that there were so many different colors and cultures and we didn’t all have to look the same! What a relief! And then wanting to be of another culture. Especially a Latina; I just thought they were so beautiful! And then all the African-American ladies in college were super-popular and smart, so then I decided that’s who I wanted to be.

One day in college, in our campus Dining Hall, I said “Hi!” to a girl of a different culture in my class. The next thing we both knew, I was being yelled at by her about how dare I talk to anyone I want, and just because I’m white doesn’t give me the right to think I can be friends with whoever I want to because I really didn’t know her, and she really didn’t want to know me, and I was a  b____ and never to speak to her again. I was scared, and not able to see past the pain in either one of us at the moment, and all that I knew to do was apologize. I kept apologizing – for looking white, for acting white – for being me. But it wasn’t enough to ease the hate and anger in her face. (Yes, I went back to my dorm room, skipped my homework, and cried myself to sleep that night).

Looking back, I know now that I just didn’t have the capacity to understand that her anger wasn’t directed at me at all, that there probably was something else she was dealing with that was bigger than both of us. But all I knew to interpret from that encounter was: that it was my fault. I caused pain, so there was something wrong with me. Whites have indeed done a lot of horrible things. Nevermind that I’m Native American Indian and Irish and Italian and a handful of other cultures. I look Anglo-Saxon, so that is the color my classmate saw that day.

Sadly, this was not the first type of this kind of encounter I had in college and as an adult. And the result was the same: shame and guilt about looking white, being white. Years later, in the middle of a lot of healing the Lord was doing, He had something to say about this: “Heather, are you saying I made a mistake giving you the body I made for you to live in?”

What a sobering thought. I told God that He made a mistake? “But, wait, God, You did this on purpose? You made my body this color, this height, this weight, with these dimensions, etc.?”

The answer is: Yes, He did. (Psalm 139). Missionary and author Elisabeth Elliot says this so beautifully, “I was not asked about my preferences in any of these factors [about my body’s color, looks, height, weight, health, dimensions, etc], but I was given a choice about the use I make of them. In other words, the body was a gift to me. Whether I will thank God for it and offer it as a holy sacrifice is for me to decide.” (“Discipline, The Glad Surrender.” E. Elliot)

Everyone’s body and looks and all that those things entail are a gift from God. And everyone is an image and a reflection of God. (Genesis 1:26).

What an amazingly beautiful and multi-faceted God we serve!

One year ago, our city suffered through Hurricane Harvey. But through the devastation, something beautiful emerged: all of a sudden, it didn’t matter what color people were, what neighborhood people lived in, or “the tribe” people belonged to; all that mattered was: you are a fellow member of the human race and my brother/sister. How can I help you get to safety? What do you need? I’m here to help you, and I’ll do whatever it takes. It was 1 John 3:16 come to life: man helping his neighbor at the expense of himself; man as God designed him to be. Suddenly, we as a society crossed all racial barriers and went from the “what is” to the “what ought to be” that Pastor Chris referenced from Reverend King’s sermon on Sunday. The only heartbreak was that it took such a devastating tragedy to accomplish this vision.

Prayer:

Father, truly You are incredibly beautiful. Open my physical eyes to see You and Your beauty in every single person around me – especially those who don’t look like me or whom I don’t like naturally. Please teach me how to lay my life down for my brothers and sisters just like you did. Please help me overcome hate by love – Your love. I cannot do this in and of myself. But I want to, and I am willing. Holy Spirit, empower me to walk in Jesus’ footsteps. Amen.